SANTO DOMINGO.- A new academy to be built by the Chicago Cubs over the next two years in Dominican Republic was unveiled by that club’s chairman Tom Ricketts during a news conference at the Embajador Hotel Thursday, news source mlb.com reports.

"It's about doing everything we can to be the best organization in baseball, and you can't be the best organization in baseball unless you have a strong presence in the Dominican and a strong presence in Latin America," mlb.com quoted Ricketts as saying.

Slated for the town of La Gina, near the capital, the facility’s 50 acre will make it the country’s largest sports academy, to be open year-round, complete with baseball fields and training facilities to house Minor League players during the season and Major Leaguers in the offseason.

“The new academy will serve players from across the world, including Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Nicaragua, Aruba, Curacao and Mexico, in addition to the Dominican Republic,” the Website adds, quoting Ricketts.

"It's about doing everything we can to be the best organization in baseball, and you can't be the best organization in baseball unless you have a strong presence in the Dominican and a strong presence in Latin America," mlb.com quoted Ricketts as saying.

“The new academy will serve players from across the world, including Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Nicaragua, Aruba, Curacao and Mexico, in addition to the Dominican Republic,”

Excellent news. If not for the Castros, this would surely have been located in Cuba. And Chavez' Venezuela doesn't get more investments like these because of his regimes anti-US stand.

Giant egos and great natural and trained talents, Roy. All professional sports are driven by talent and egos.

These investments help Dominicans by providing construction and maintenance jobs, demand for materials-supplied by domestic companies!, and further employment opportunities for coaches and staff many of them Dominican.